TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras
U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at a civil society forum Friday afternoon in Panama, in the lead-up to the inauguration of the seventh Summit of the Americas.
The Forum of Civil Society and Social Actors is a parallel forum to the hemispheric gathering of heads of state. The forum presents their recommendations on civil society consultation and dialogue for the consideration of participating states.
Cuba is participating in the regional meeting for the first time, after significant advances in the normalization of its relations with the U.S. last December.
Prior to the summit, tensions between Cuban and Venezuelan government supporters and opponents sparked controversy at the civil society forum.
A Cuban delegation withdrew from the forum Wednesday after more than 20 of its pro-government delegates were denied accreditation, and the Venezuelan delegation withdrew shortly thereafter in support of Cuba. Anti-government activists met with no such restrictions, they said.
Pro-government Cuban delegates continued to participate in the forum’s working groups.
In a declaration Thursday, the forum’s working group on citizen participation denounced “the attempted formation of a parallel working group to disregard the true representation of civil society and social actors.”
Controversy about accreditation arose again Friday morning when Cuban pro-government delegates said they were being singled out to repeat the accreditation process.
“We have worked very seriously in the working groups on democratic governance and citizen participation, and we have a document to present to the heads of state. And now there’s an announcement that we have to re-accredit ourselves, which we view as humiliating to the Cuban delegation because we’re already perfectly accredited,” said Miguel Barnet, president of the Cuban Writers and Artists Union, according to Cubadebate.
Aside from the civil society forum, other parallel forums and summits within and outside of the official meeting framework continue. Friday morning, Bolivian President Evo Morales addressed an unaffiliated counter-summit.
More than 2,000 delegates from unions, indigenous groups, social movements and other organizations throughout the continent are attending the People’s Summit.
Morales expressed his support for Cuba and Venezuela, and denounced U.S. intervention in Latin America.
“For the U.S., there are good countries and bad countries. The good ones are the ones that accept military bases, the ones that give away their natural resources [and] the ones that are willing to privatize their public services,” said Morales.
The People’s Summit was inaugurated Thursday following a march through the streets of Panama City. Opening celebrations featured a free concert by iconic Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez.
